Sports participation and subjective wellbeing of adolescents: mediation of self-esteem and leisure satisfaction

Sergiu Bltescu University of Oradea

Abstract
It has been suggested that: (1) participation in sport and exercise is associated with higher adolescent subjective well-being, and (2) leisure satisfaction and self-esteem mediates the relationship. These hypotheses were tested using data from a survey on the behavior and attitudes of high school students from Oradea, a Romanian town. Findings from a representative sample of 1000 subjects indicate that, controlling for age, physical activity is moderately associated with life satisfaction and happiness. A test of mediation of self-esteem and leisure satisfaction was done with structural equation software AMOS, showing no direct causal between sports participation and subjective well-being. The relationship is mediated by self-esteem for boys and leisure satisfaction for both sexes. Finally, implications for promoting physical activity among adolescents were discussed.

Psycho-social benefits of sport participation in adolescence

Improve academic achievement Increase self-esteem Reduce depression and anxiety, and suicide attempts Increase life satisfaction

Aspects of the relationship between sport participation and life satisfaction

A moderate association was proved in several all age groups (Donovan, 2002) Sports involvement was proved to be correlated with:
actual life satisfaction (Thrane, 1999) (Vilhjalmsson,

1992) life satisfaction in adult life {Ajdacic-Gross, 2002} (Varca, 1984) (Serbu, 1997)

The pattern was different for boys and girls (Varca, 1984)

Mediators of the relationship between sport participation and life satisfaction

Self-esteem
Leisure

satisfaction

Health
Social

Integration

Self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between sport participation and life satisfaction

Sport participation and self-esteem

A well-established empirical relationship in sports

psychology (Erkut, 2002)(Delaney, 1995) Causal mechanisms: sports participation foster positive body images, enhanced perceptions of physical competence and predict higher self-esteem (Richman, 2000) Reverse causation possible: those with higher selfesteem are as a group the more frequent participants in sports (Lindner, 1999 #12)

Self-esteem and life satisfaction: highly correlated

Leisure satisfaction as a mediator of the relationship between sport participation and life satisfaction Sport participation and leisure satisfaction
Causal mechanism: sports reduce leisure

boredom (Gordon, 1996)

Leisure

satisfaction is one of the predictors of life satisfaction.

A test of mediation
Hypothesis

no. 1 Sports participation is associated with higher adolescent life satisfaction Hypothesis no. 2 Self-esteem and Leisure satisfaction are mediators of the relationship between sport participation and life satisfaction

Method and sample

Rezultats are from a survey in Oradea A stratified random sample was designed with high-school students. Size of the sample: 1000 subjects

Measures
Life

satisfaction scales

Single question 10-points : Considering the whole situation, how satisfied are you about your daily life?
0. Very unsatisfied.10 Very satisfied

Leisure

satisfaction

Single question, 5 points scale

Measures
Self-esteem

Rosenberg self-esteem scale (10 items)

Sports

participation Single question

Causal model

Leisure satisfaction

Sports participation

Life satisfaction

Self-esteem

Structural model

e1
,16

Leisure satisfaction
,16 ,01

Sports participation
,12

e11

Life satisfaction

,24

Self-esteem

e2

e3

Structural model fit

Discrepancy 73,865 Degrees of freedom 2 P 0,000 Number of parameters Discrepancy / df 36,933 RMR GFI Adjusted GFI Parsimony-adjusted GFI Normed fit index 0,993 Relative fit index 0,926 Incremental fit index Tucker-Lewis index 0,928 Comparative fit index

0,000 0 0,000 26

10006,548 20 28 500,327 P 8

CMIN DF NPAR CMINDF RMR GFI AGFI PGFI

1,000

0,993
0,993

0,000 0,000 1,000 0,000 1,000

NFI RFI

0,000
TLI 0,000

IFI
CFI

Reference list

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